Re: DebianWiki: Draft of a new frontpage [RFC]
On Wed, 2008-11-26 at 22:40 +0100, Simon Paillard wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 12:48:44AM +0100, Frank Lin PIAT wrote:
> > I have drafted a new(1)[2] front page for the wiki. My main purposes
> > were to:
> > - Get more people to contribute to Debian (at large).
> > - Get visitors to use the search engine, rather than click on links.
> > - Frontpage should reflect the content of the wiki (humm...).
> > - Show that Debian is active/successful.
>
> Ack on all these items.
>
> > I tend to think that a frontpage without a sidebar isn't efficient
> > for navigation (and it's a waste of space)... So I had to twist
> > moinmoin a little bit to achieve that (the stuff at the bottom of
> > the page will be moved somewhere else later).
>
> Maybe a folding sidebar, in order to avoid displaying the whole
> site/wiki hierarchy.
That would be difficult using moinmoin (and probably many other wikis).
But anyway, my point is to change the content of the front page, changing
the design (CSS) is a side effect + see below.
> > The page isn't finished yet, but I would like to get some feedback
> > from you.
> >
> > Thanks in advance for you feedback and contribution.
>
> It reminds me too much our plain old website
I think I'm going to change the blue side bar for another color ;)
> i.e. too much information on the start page.
regarding the sidebar:
- The "News" page should actually be moved to the website, since there's
no "news" content on the wiki.
- The "Contributing" entries could be summarized in three points
(devel, non-devel and wiki)... but see point #1 in my list above.
- Note that all pages targeted to developers and package maintainer
have already been moved to "DevelopersCorner" (which is actually an
alternate Frontpage).
regarding the main body:
Each section serves it own purpose... but
- The section "Page needing contribution" could be moved to the
subpage about contributing the the wiki.
- I hope we get enough contribution, so the section "News (Official and
unofficial Debian-related news)" could be a list of new wiki pages!
> I prefer the current layout and design of the wiki frontpage
The existing design (CSS) is nice but I can't reuse it.
The page layout prevent from providing any content on the frontpage...
therefore it doesn't change... and the wiki seems inactive.
> (for example the icons).
Not me.
The problem with icons, is that it's very difficult to find an icon that
match the content, unless you draw them yourself.
(Get a KDE user, and ask him/her what's the content he/she expects for
each icon)
Also, what message do we want to carry?
> By the way, Kalle Soderman is doing nice work (though not much
> advertising on the list, he is certainly right given the previous
> feedback sent to website layout proposals) :
>
> http://www.kalleswork.net/projects/debian/simple/newwiki/
>
> (See his webpage http://www.kalleswork.net/projects/debian/)
IMO, The only way to get everyone agree on a layout (CSS), it's to get
many proposal, the ask "some people" to "vote" for one of them.
> > (1) Well, it is not so new, since it is very similar (and inspired)
> > by entries of the one we had one year ago.
> > [2] http://wiki.debian.org/FrontPageV3Sandbox
> > (and http://wiki.debian.org/DevelopersCorner is merely started)
I'll try to make the page a bit lighter. But we have very different PoV.
Thanks,
Franklin
On Wed, 2008-11-26 at 22:40 +0100, Simon Paillard wrote:
On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 12:48:44AM +0100, Frank Lin PIAT wrote:
> I have drafted a new(1)[2] front page for the wiki. My main purposes
> were to:
> - Get more people to contribute to Debian (at large).
> - Get visitors to use the search engine, rather than click on links.
> - Frontpage should reflect the content of the wiki (humm...).
> - Show that Debian is active/successful.
Ack on all these items.
> I tend to think that a frontpage without a sidebar isn't efficient for
> navigation (and it's a waste of space)... So I had to twist moinmoin a
> little bit to achieve that (the stuff at the bottom of the page will be
> moved somewhere else later).
Maybe a folding sidebar, in order to avoid displaying the whole
site/wiki hierarchy.
That would be difficult using moinmoin (and probably many other wikis).
> The page isn't finished yet, but I would like to get some feedback from
> you.
>
> Thanks in advance for you feedback and contribution.
It reminds me too much our plain old website, i.e. too much information
on the start page.
the sidebar:
- The "News" page should actually be moved to the website, since there's
no related content on the wiki.
- The "Contributing" entries could be summarized in three points
(devel, non-devel and wiki)... but see point #1 in my list above.
- Note that all pages targeted to developers and package maintainer
have already been moved to "DevelopersCorner" (which is actually
an alternate Frontpage).
the main body:
Each section serves it own purpose... but
- The section "Page needing contribution" could be moved to a
subpage about contributing the the wiki (sidebar's contributing to
the wiki entry).
- I hope we get enough contribution, so the section "News (Official and
unofficial Debian-related news)" could become a list of new wiki
pages!
I prefer the current layout and design of the wiki frontpage
The design (the CSS) is nice but I can't reuse it.
The page layout prevent from providing any content on the frontpage...
therefore it doesn't change, and the wiki seems inactive.
(for example the icons).
Not me.
The problem with icons, is that it's very difficult to have an icon that match the content, unless you draw them yourself.
Also, what message do we want to carry? Is Debian a distribution with nice graphics for people who want to click on icons, or do we want to carry some actual information?
By the way, Kalle Soderman is doing nice work (though not much
advertising on the list, he is certainly right given the previous
feedback sent to website layout proposals) :
http://www.kalleswork.net/projects/debian/simple/newwiki/
(See his webpage http://www.kalleswork.net/projects/debian/)
IMO, The only way to get everyone agree on a layout, it's to get many proposal, the ask "people" to "vote" for one of them.
> (1) Well, it is not so new, since it is very similar (and inspired)
> by entries of the one we had one year ago.
> [2] http://wiki.debian.org/FrontPageV3Sandbox
> (and http://wiki.debian.org/DevelopersCorner is merely started)
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